NCAA 12 - PS3 - Dazraz's Blog

Dazraz's Blog

NCAA 12 - PS3

Posted on July 15, 2011 at 03:28 AM.

NCAA 12 has been released with almost universally positive critical acclaim. However all the reviews seem to be based on the 360 version. In the short time I've had with the game there are some noticeable issues that I wonder whether they are specific with the PS3 as they take away somewhat from the experience.

There are some nice additions to NCAA 12 but I'm not feeling blown away by the game as many appear to be.

FRONT END

+ Coaching Carousel
+ EA's online code supplied with the game doesn't work in the UK so I have no access to download user rosters (I do still get game patches though). Thankfully EA have been a bit more imaginative with naming players in the game this year.

- Menu system is once again sluggish to navigate around.

GAMEPLAY

+ Player suctioning doesn't happen anywhere nearly as often
+ More natural looking animations

- Far too easy to pick up yards when running up the middle, consistently getting 10y on half back dives

PRESENTATION

+ More cut scene variety
+ Very impressive pre game intros
+ Nice to see coaches on the sidelines

- Lots of jaggies, especially when playing at stadiums of less prestigious schools
- No uniform degradation
- Inconsistent lighting effects. Lighting levels drastically change when camera angles change
- Colours are off. Bright colours are way to bright, especially in night games

SOUND

- Oh dear. This is bad. Normally it's the dire commentary that single handedly lets the audio down but in NCAA 12 everything is bad. Even when playing with the volume levels the crowd noise is non existent. This massively takes away from the atmosphere of big game match-ups. Audibly one of the worst games I've played in quite some time

As I say this is just some of the things I've picked up on & is in no way a comprehensive list. I'm interested to see if these points are relevant to all formats of the game.

Comments

# 1 Eski33 @ Jul 15

I agree to a point. Uniforms get dirty. Also if running is too easy you can tweak with sliders.

# 2 badflounder @ Jul 16

I have both 360 and PS3 versions (and have in years past) and the menu sluggishness crap is always specific to the PS3. It's because the blu-ray drive is streaming the data and struggles to keep up. I have no idea why the devs don't include some kind of install option to resolve this as it's always bugged the crap out of me. It used to be sluggish in EVERY menu but at least they largely resolved the sluggishness when picking plays during games. It's still slightly worse than 360 but it's much improved over previous versions of the game. On 360 the game is silky smooth if you install it, can't say I have tried it from disc but once installed it runs silky smooth all the time.

# 3 badflounder @ Jul 16

I forgot to add, I couldn't agree more about the audio. It is truly dreadful in both versions of the game. I don't know what they did to it this year but the volume is low and it just sounds pathetic.

# 4 blazer003 @ Jul 16

I agree somewhat, but I do love this game. But it is completely baffling how they can get audio so very wrong year after year. Is it just an afterthought and they're like "Oh, we forgot to address audio again this year?" They even advertised how much better it was supposed to be. Playing in Autzen Stadium, I was up 10 with Arizona driving with 5 minutes left and they were silent. Apparently they had complete confidence in me pulling out a W.

# 5 patmaster7891 @ Jul 16

i listen to music while playing

# 6 Elgin2311 @ Jul 16

I wish they would take commentary out all together. If not at least trade out for brent musburger

# 7 Dazraz @ Jul 16

You would think with the years EA have used the same commentary team that there would of been plenty of opportunity to extract a ton of lines out of them. However it seems EA find getting commentary right as too much work as all their games are weak in this area. Maybe Madden will break the trend this year.

# 8 whosgotcha @ Jul 17

yeah, the audio is terrible.

# 9 whosgotcha @ Jul 17

I have a Samsung 1080p 46 inch and the game looks great. I am very surprised at how rich the colors look as games generally look washed out in comparison to the 360. I have a 360 but went with the PS3 version (I have two PS3s on different televisions in case one t.v. is occupied lol)

# 10 Dazraz @ Jul 17

@ whosgotcha

Touchy subject. I have a Sony Bravia 32" 720p. It works pretty well but I really want to get myself a full 1080p set. Unfortunately the wife is taking lots of pursuading!

# 11 dubya52 @ Jul 17

does anybody know the username for the fully updated rosters for the PS3

# 12 Dazraz @ Jul 18

@ dubya52

There is a listing under Hot Topics from Fairdale Kings with details on how to download the roster.

# 13 billylee0000 @ Jul 19

yeah, ncaa 12 needs an install option for the ps3 because its killer in dynasty mode